Read Knight of Love for Free Online

me hot water, scissors, and the Freiherr ’s shaving kit.” Krause turned back to his patient, bending over him by the firelight to examine his head. “We’re going to have to cut this hair, Wolfram. It’s too long for me to get at the wound.”
    â€œFinally!” said Horwitz. “You’ve looked like a girl long enough.”
    â€œLuckily you’ve got a rock for a head, or they might have had to leave you dead by the road!” added Müller.
    She would have tried to bolt save for the sharp eye of Johann. The young man clearly took it as his personal assignment not to leave off his hard grip. For the moment, she allowed him to redeem his pride through her submission and resigned herself to capture. She tried out the thought that these men might help her now that their leader had returned.
    A foolish hope, whispered her despair.
    Learning as much as she could about this Wolfram might, however, serve her advantage. When Krause sliced open the man’s tunic and shirt to get at the sword cut along his upper arm, she had ample opportunity for such observation.
    Too ample.
    With their leader’s back to her at the fire, the breadth of his shoulders was intimidating enough. But when he turned toward her to answer a question from Johann, she instinctively backed up at the sight of the corded muscles wrapping his massive chest and tight abdomen. He was easily the biggest man she’d ever seen.
    The men bantered among themselves as Krause cut Wolfram’s hair and shaved his scalp to a rough stubble. Night fell as the medic cleaned his wounds and stitched up the cut on his arm, working by the light of the fire.
    â€œYou must be getting old, Wolfram—not fast enough anymore to duck when a sword comes your way?”
    â€œ Nein , it’s not his age, it’s that half-English blood diluting his veins and making him weak like an Englishman!”
    She saw in their teasing their affection for their leader. The title of Freiherr by which they called him translated as “free lord.” Trained to Kurt’s exacting standards in the intricacies of German nobility, she knew it to be the title of the Reichsritter , the free imperial knights of Germany. The knights were an ancient hereditary order created by the Holy Roman emperors. But this man was half-English as well? A fellow countryman to her, then, at least of a sort; she filed away the fact for later use. A tight camaraderie appeared to bind these men together. Their mutual allegiance would make it difficult to pit one against the other in a bid to help her escape. She sensed she’d have to convince this Wolfram to let her go. He ruled here, not with Kurt’s iron fist, but with loyalty and love.
    Krause cut a length of clean linen to wind around the knight’s upper arm. The medic pronounced the head wound slight enough once cleaned to not merit a bandage. He wrung out a last hot towel to wipe Wolfram’s face and chest of the remaining blood.
    The giant finally turned toward her from his seat at the fire. “Now tell me about this lad,” he commanded, pointing toward her. “Becker pulled him off the road?”
    â€œShe’s not a boy, Freiherr ,” answered Horwitz. “She’s a woman, only in disguise.”
    At that, their leader swore and threw down the linen. “I told you,” he snapped, “no more whores! They slow us down when we travel and cause fights when we’re in camp. I sent back that last high-priced bit you brought in for me. I’m in no mood tonight for another pox-ridden doxy.”
    His men laughed at his outburst. “Hey, Fräulein ”—Horwitz came over to pinch her chin between meaty fingers—“what do you think of that? Ever been called a pox-ridden doxy before?”
    â€œWho is she?” Wolfram asked irritably, turning back toward his men.
    â€œShe’s quite the prize Becker picked up on the road, Wolfram,”